Tim's Vermeer

A very good documentary about an unlikely subject: a high-tech
inventor and
entrepreneur, Tim Jenison, decides to duplicate a famous painting by
Johannes Vermeer. And (spoiler!) does.

But the details are what makes this interesting. Jenison's background
and fortune result from his innovative linking of computers and video,
with his inventions in use across the world. But somehow his
interest is piqued by an art-history oddity: how did Vermeer
accomplish his near-photographic depictions of his subjects,
unprecedented in history, and even unusual for its time?

Jenison became acquainted with the theory, explicated by David Hockney
and Philip Steadman, that Vermeer was somehow using optical
gimmicks to match details and color while he was painting.
There's little or nothing in the historical record to back that
up, but Jenison starts reverse-engineering a possible mechanism,
using only materials and methods that would have been available
to Vermeer back in the 17th century Netherlands.
After some initial encouraging success, he decides to attempt
reproducing The
Music Lesson.
He duplicates Vermeer's studio in a San Antonio
warehouse; he buys props and pigments, and otherwise gets to work.

In the wrong hands, this could have been as interesting as watching
paint dry. (Heh.) (And they make that joke in the movie too.)

The nature of Vermeer's genius (artistic or "merely" technical)
is apparently still mired in controversy, but the film points
out a lot of evidence in the painting pointing to optical
wizardry: chromatic aberration, distortion that might have
been introduced by a concave mirror in the setup, differences
in illumination too subtle for the human eye to pick up itself.
I was convinced, but I only heard Tim's side of the story.

The film was produced by the comedy/magic duo of Penn and Teller,
with Penn Jillette (a longtime friend of Tim Jenison)
providing a lot of narration and Teller directing. Hence, much
of the reason Jenison's not just another obsessed geek
working on an obscure project is due to piggybacking
on Penn and Teller's fame. Which is fine, but makes me wonder:
what about all those other guys. Do they have equally
interesting stories to tell?

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